TAUNTON — January was a deadly month for heroin users in Greater Taunton.

Morton Hospital and Taunton police both reported an increase in recent drug overdoses, including a suspected fatal overdose in downtown Taunton on Sunday.

“We’ve recently seen an uptick in drug-related overdoses brought to our emergency room,” said Julie Masci, a spokeswoman for Morton Hospital in Taunton. “We recognize this concern in our community and we are doing all we can to help address it.”

In the month of January alone, Morton Hospital said 43 patients were brought to the emergency room for drug overdoses. During the entire year of 2013, the hospital saw 129 total overdoses, Masci said. January’s one-month total equals one-third the number of overdoses treated over the preceding 12-month period.

Masci said available hospital records do not indicate what type of drug was involved in each overdose case.

Taunton police recently said that overdoses related to heroin and other opiates have been surging in the city. Last week, Taunton police Chief Ed Walsh confirmed that the city had at least two fatal overdoses in January alone, and possibly a third, involving adults injecting heroin.

Over this past weekend, there was one more fatal overdose, but the Taunton police believe this case involved the injection of oxycodone, Walsh said.

The unattended death was reported in an apartment building at 16 Church St. in downtown Taunton, near St. Mary’s Square and directly behind Morton Hospital.

Walsh said Taunton police responded to two overdoses in the span of a few hours on Monday.

Walsh counted 20 reported heroin overdoses in January, an increase from the typical three to six overdose cases they typically see each month.

On Wednesday, Walsh said that he suspects tainted heroin, as well as a “purer strain” of heroin, have hit the streets, contributing to overdoses for even longtime users.

Walsh said that Fentanyl, a strong painkiller typically used in a hospital setting, is apparently being mixed into batches of heroin by drug suppliers and dealers creating a dangerous blend.

“It’s not more people using heroin per se, but the heroin seems to be too strong or is tainted,” said Walsh. “That’s the issue.”

Police responded to a city woman’s nonfatal overdose on Wednesday, Walsh added.

“The other thing we’ve seen is overdose on Percocets,” he said. “We’ve seen a rise in that as well.”

Walsh said that the recent overdose upsurge is a national problem.

Last month, at least 22 people in western Pennsylvania reportedly died after using heroin with the Fentanyl additive.

Heroin overdosing has been a highly discussed topic following the high-profile death of Academy Award winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman, 46, whose body was found by police in his Manhattan apartment on Sunday morning. Hoffman was reportedly found lying on a bathroom floor with a syringe in his left arm.

Walsh said he believes the problem is starting in other countries where the Fentanyl is being added before getting to the United States.

Taunton police Sgt. Matthew Skwarto said he believes the “simple chemistry” occurs in Mexico and other locations abroad, resulting in dangerous batches of the drug circulating throughout entire regions of the nation.

“It’s definitely not just a Taunton thing or a Massachusetts thing,” Skwarto said.

Walsh said that Morton Hospital’s 43-overdose tally for January is high. He said healthcare providers have reported provisions of Narcan, a drug used to counter the effects of opiate overdose, have been in short supply across the region because of the spike in overdose cases.

Frank Simpson, a Church Street resident, said that he watched as an ambulance responded to the fatal drug overdose next door at 16 Church St.

Simpson said drug use in downtown Taunton is a huge problem that doesn’t get the attention it deserves. He recounted several discoveries of used hypodermic needles on the ground throughout his neighborhood.

“This is where the overdoses all start,” said Simpson, who attends neighborhood crime watch meetings and watches dealers work the streets from his second-floor apartment. “No one is doing nothing about the drug activity.”

Taunton Mayor Thomas Hoye Jr. said that he has been aware of the drug problem in Taunton and has seen how overdoses have become an increasing public health issue throughout the country recently. Hoye said that it’s important to continue to support the police as they work to stop the local suppliers of dangerous drugs, as well as supporting education efforts to teach area youth the dangers of drug use and public health efforts to treat drug addiction.

“It’s such a serious problem,” Hoye said. “I don’t think most realize … but it’s something we have to continue to keep our eye on, and for the police diligently, hopefully to get the people off the street that are supplying these drugs.”

Hoye said that the overdose issue isn’t a problem for one particular part of the country or region, or for a particular social class. Hoye said that heroin addiction often starts with children sampling medication, then switching to heroin in part because heroin is cheaper than drugs like Oxycontin.

“This drug epidemic is a problem in cities and a problem in towns, not just in this region,” Hoye said. “It stretches far beyond our boundaries. And it’s scary. The best thing we can do is continuing to educate our children on the danger of these substances.”

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